United Quietly Suspends Flights to Hong Kong and Buenos Aires

United Airlines is suspending routes to Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. Both of these suspensions appear to be directly related to unrest and instability in those regions⁠—the protests in Hong Kong and the financial instability in Buenos Aires⁠—which has caused a decrease in business and tourist travel to those regions. Chicago to Hong Kong is being suspended as of September 8, 2019. Newark to Buenos Aires is being suspended as of October 26, 2019

United has simply cited “decreased demand” in Hong Kong as the reason they are suspending this long-running route and makes no mention of civil unrest.

We look forward to our upcoming addition of a second daily flight between HKG (Hong Kong) and SFO this fall to complement our existing HKG service. However, we have also seen a decline in demand between ORD and HKG. While our service between the United States and HKG remains a vital part of our network, we have decided to suspend service between ORD and HKG after the return flight from HKG on Sept. 9, 2019.

For clarity, not all of United’s routes to Hong Kong and Buenos Aires have been canceled. Three other daily flights (two out of San Francisco and one out of Newark) to Hong Kong and one daily flight (out of Houston) to Buenos Aires are still operational. And, it appears, none of the planes freed up by this route suspensions will be used in United’s new expansion plans.

If your itinerary will be affected by these changes, United will reach out with rebooking options via e-mail. If you are impacted by these changes and don’t like the new route that United gave you, call them early and be firm about your request for a transfer. Reports one FlyerTalk member: “After a couple transfers I got a route I liked, even with 1 segment on Air China and overnight layover, all without paying any more fees or taxes and I rarely fly and have no status.”

For the answer to more questions or for more details, head to this forum thread.